Silly new boys

[Zambay28]

Hi everyone!

We've just picked up two new boys who were being given away in Fredericton, NB.

Meet Dewy and Foggy!

Here's a silly video of their ride home with us last week. Dewy is the blue guy and Foggy is the one on his back

And a picture

And finally, here's Foggy's face!

They've both settled well. Foggy did bite me hard on the ear while on my shoulder, which wasn't very nice of him lol, but otherwise they've been friendly, especially Dewy.
Unfortunately they of course both have a URI (Foggy's is worse) that the previous owner decided not to tell us about, so that's being treated early next week.

Just wanted to introduce them and show off the adorable video!

 

[Rattie]

They're so adorable, how old are they?

 

[Tabirat]

Aww, they're so cute!

 

[Zambay28]

They're so adorable, how old are they?

Shoot, I didn't see that I had replies until now. Forgive my 1 week late response! LOL

Thank you!

They are apparently about 9 months old! They had bought them from a breeder I guess, so I assume their age is pretty accurate, though we didn't get their actual birthday unfortunately.

 

[Rattie]

Shoot, I didn't see that I had replies until now. Forgive my 1 week late response! LOL

Thank you!

They are apparently about 9 months old! They had bought them from a breeder I guess, so I assume their age is pretty accurate, though we didn't get their actual birthday unfortunately.

No worries, thanks for the reply. Do you have other rats too?

 

[Zambay28]

No worries, thanks for the reply. Do you have other rats too?

Yes! You're right, I never introduced Comet & Sputnik!
We rescued these boys on March 30 from going homeless or snake food (their previous owner dumped them in an empty apartment, then the next owner got evicted from the same apartment, then a friend of that last person put them online for first come first serve). They were in rough shape (completely full of mites/scabs, quite underweight, bumblefoot on one, mild URI) but they are already looking much better now. Comet very much needs a neuter unfortunately. He spends his whole day marking the cage and play area, and bullying lil Sputty.

We hoped we could introduce all 4 boys together once the new boys clear their URI, but with Comet (and Foggy's a bit) territorial behaviors, I'm thinking they will stay two separate groups for a long time.

 

[Zambay28]

Comet

Sputnik

 

[Rattie]

They're so adorable, hope everything will be better. Looking forward to seeing them in one home. Do you think territorial behaviors have something to do with age and size?

Thanks for the replies and the nice pics.

 

[Zambay28]

They're so adorable, hope everything will be better. Looking forward to seeing them in one home. Do you think territorial behaviors have something to do with age and size?

Thanks for the replies and the nice pics.

Thank you!

I'm not sure about size? Is that something common? Comet the bully is much bigger than poor little Sputnik. And it is in fact Foggy who is a lil bigger than Dewy. I do think age has maybe something to do with it. We don't know Sputnik's and Comet's age, but we know Dewy & Foggy are 9 months old ish. We're guesstimating 1 year give or take for Comet & Sputnik. We don't know if they're related though lol

Comet will chase and pin poor Sputty around the cage fairly often (every couple days). We never see blood and we also find them cuddling almost every day at least for a nap or two, so it's not always bad for Sputty... Still we feel bad for him.. He spends all his time in one house in one corner of the cage. Comet will spend A LOT of his time marking the cage and trying to get in boxing fights with the other two rats who live in the cage next door, a few inches away. When we brought Foggy & Dewy home, Comet must've spent his entire days watching the new guys, huffing and puffing almost non-stop lol. It's only recently that he's calmed down enough to hang around in other parts of the cage again where he can't watch the new guys.

Foggy and Dewy get along almost 24/7 except for random boxing fights nowadays, they were a bit iffy when we first brought them home. They will both spend a few minutes each getting into "boxing fights" through the bars with Comet, but lose interest quickly and walk away. Dewy is really friendly with us, but Foggy definitely doesn't like us yet lol.. If these two stayed alone together, I don't think Foggy would need a neuter, I just think he could really benefit from one... he's just really on edge all the time lol. Foggy hasn't bitten me since that time he bit my ear, so we're starting to think maybe only Comet NEEDS a neuter and maybe that will calm everyone down once HE calms tf down haha. Interestingly enough, Comet really likes us and we are not at all afraid of him. I've only ever neutered rats that were aggressive biters in the past... so I keep hoping Comet will calm down and won't need a neuter, but man I think he's just way too hormonal for it to work with other big intact boys like Dewy and Foggy. I foresee lots of fights lol. Does that make sense or should I wait until he calms down more and try intros first? Neuters ain't cheap

Sorry about the wall of text haha, I guess I needed to talk about it!

 

[Tiffany&Lauren]

Aww, they're so cute